My blog used to be called Nappy Valley. But now I've moved to the dizzy heights of Crystal Palace (via a spell as an expat on Long Island, New York). And my Littleboys are long out of nappies.

Wednesday, 15 June 2016

Why bats don't back Brexit

There was a "bat walk" in our local park last Friday night at dusk, and I took Littleboy 2 along. As we stood there in the smudgy twilight, we saw lots of whirling creatures and listened to an fascinating talk from a volunteer from the London Wildlife Trust about bats.

There were several things I didn't know about bats -- like, they feed off mosquitoes and midges (so they're actually happy when humans are around, because we attract them), and it's only certain species that sleep upside down. But one thing I particularly noted was that the bats in our park are protected by EU Legislation.

That kind of sums up the Brexit argument for me. So many of the EU laws that people complain about are just common sense -- from having safe child seats for kids, to protecting bats, to protecting jobs. Giving women the right to ask for flexible working hours. Protecting doctors from working too many hours, like they used to in the early 90s before the EU brought the working time directive in. Personally, I feel protected by the fact that we're doing the same as lots of other countries, many of which are more progessive and less conservative than our own. And who is going to come up with our laws and regulations in future if we leave? Boris Johnson? No, thanks.

I'm not going into all the other arguments for and against on here, and of course readers are free to make up their own minds. But I'm crossing my fingers for next Thursday that people see sense and choose "Remain." Because quite frankly it would be "bats" to leave.

5 comments:

Have been watching the whole thing unfold with great interest - many, many 'I'm IN' placards and posters popping up in windows around my neighborhood. I may not be well-informed enough about it, but it seems like the advantages of staying far outweigh the disadvantages.

I agree. We're bound to have better laws if we have to hammer them out with other countries. To suggest otherwise is unbelievable arrogance: "we know better than all you other European countries". People behave better when held to account by other people, and I think the same is true of nations. I'd feel differently if we were saying "we want to leave the EU because we want stricter environmental controls, better protection for low-paid workers, safer car seats".

I suppose that's a naive and rather broad-brush approach, and yes, of course we lose freedoms in some areas. But I'm with you. in.. in.. in..

About Me

I'm a business journalist, wife to The Doctor and mother to two boys. I left London's 'Nappy Valley' in 2009 for a four year sojourn in New York. Now I'm back in South London, settling into British life once again and trying not to miss the yellow schoolbus too much as I grapple with the school run.